Underestimated
by Ilyusha
Summary: G1. Why exactly is Red Alert so nervous around the peaceable Perceptor? Prompt taken from the tf bunny farm on LJ.


Warnings: None  
Disclaimer: As per usual, the good things in life are not mine to have, but belong to someone else... in this case Hasbro, Takara and IDW and anyone else I've forgotten…  
Authors Notes: This is from the tf_bunny_farm on LJ. The prompt is at the end of the story.

* * *

It was only after they landed that Inferno truly registered just how tense Red Alert was.

"You okay there Red?" He murmured, one hand resting on the security director's shoulder strut.

"Just fine." Red Alert ground out, flashing a look at Beachcomber and Perceptor who were still sitting on the shuttle, engrossed in their scientific discussion.

Leaving the shuttle and the scientific conversation behind, Red Alert began to relax.

Right up until they were seated in the meeting room aboard the Ark, waiting for Prime to join them. He stiffened the moment Perceptor walked into the room.

"Sure you're okay there Red?" Inferno asked, concerned. Red Alert just nodded, optics focussing on the data pad in front of him as if by ignoring Perceptor, he could make the mech disappear.

Once the meeting was over, Inferno found himself following Red Alert through the corridors to their new quarters. Thankfully, Prowl had seen fit to assign them double quarters, something Inferno was glad of, not just because of his size, but because of his relationship with Red Alert.

Already the rumor mill had started, explaining away their closeness by them being bonded mates. Far from it, Inferno thought ruefully; Red Alert could never give up that much of himself, but Inferno was happy to settle for what Red Alert could give.

Despite his larger size, Inferno still had to hurry after Red Alert lest he get locked out of their quarters on his first night on Earth! Red Alert seemed eager to get as far away from the meeting room as possible.

Determined, he finally found out why Red Alert was so nervous. And was then sworn to secrecy on pain of being forced to recharge in the rec room for the rest of his existence. Needless to say, Inferno didn't say anything to anyone.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It took Jazz less than an Earth month to realise how uncomfortable Red Alert was around their new resident scientist. He cornered Inferno first, figuring the fire truck would have some idea why Red Alert was so wary. True to his word, Inferno didn't say anything, merely shrugging and telling Jazz that he must be imagining things.

But Jazz wasn't the only one to notice. Over the next few months, more and more 'bots saw how tense the security director was if Perceptor was in the room. He always seemed to have one optic trained on the scientist.

Things came to a head during a meeting where Perceptor was reporting on some new discovery he had made. The scientist had flung his arms out dramatically to make a point and Red Alert had flinched. Silence descended on the room and all optics turned to Red Alert who squirmed uncomfortably under the attention.

"All right Red, what's the problem?" Ironhide drawled as he folded his arms over his windshield.

"Nothing." Red Alert stammered out.

"Ya flinched my mech." Jazz pointed out. Red Alert slumped in his chair.

"I do believe that may have been my fault." Perceptor murmured, optics focussed on Red Alert who was stubbornly refusing to look at any of them.

"How could it be your fault Perceptor?" Wheeljack asked, understandably confused.

"I…." Perceptor faltered and 'coughed'. "There have been times where I have been forced to take up arms, despite my reluctance." Perceptor glanced around the room, seeing nothing but uncomprehending looks.

"I believe that Red Alert has seen me fight. I have a rather… enthusiastic style, especially when defending my projects."

"Enthusiastic? Mech, you'd have ta be downright violent for Red here ta be this jumpy around you."

"Enthusiastic is putting it mildly." Red Alert mumbled, optics still focussed on the table.

"Ah yes, I might have been a little overeager in defending that particular project." Perceptor inclined his head.

"Overeager? You practically ripped the mech apart with your bare hands!" Red Alert finally looked up from the table to stare at Perceptor. The scientist met Red Alert's gaze briefly.

"Well…" He started, before realising he didn't have much of a defence.

"Perceptor my mech, if you can fight that well, why've you been hiding it?" Jazz voiced the question that was on everyone's vocalisers.

"Because I don't want to have to fight. Not here on this planet where there's so much to study."

"So that's why yer so nervous round him then?" Ironhide summed up. "'Cuz you've seen the mech fight?" Red Alert nodded, shifting uncomfortably in his chair. Suddenly, it seemed a very silly thing to be worried about, particularly as mechs such as Sunstreaker and Cliffjumper were just as eager and violent and he had no problem with them. Perhaps it was just because Perceptor presented such an innocent, non-violent front to the world that he was having trouble coming to terms with the fact that the mech was a very good fighter.

"I am led to understand that seeing someone do something you don't expect them to do can be very unsettling." Perceptor tried to explain, seeing as everyone thought it was rather amusing that Red Alert was on edge around him.

Prime held up his hand for attention.

"Now that we have solved the problem, can we please return to the matter at hand?" Everyone nodded, subdued slightly and the meeting continued.

After it ended, Red Alert escaped as quickly as he could. Perceptor found himself surrounded by the likes of Ironhide and Jazz, all wanting to know how well he could shoot, how well he could fight.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The next day found Perceptor and Ironhide on the targeting range. Ironhide was keen to find out exactly how good Perceptor was, despite the scientist's protests. A few shots later and Ironhide really couldn't work out how Red Alert could be so nervous around the scientist. Fine, he could hit the target, but there was nothing spectacular in his methods.

The day after, Sunstreaker dragged him into the training rooms to spar. Then proceeded to drag Perceptor's offline chassis down to the medbay where he was berated by Ratchet for injuring him.

The following day found Sunstreaker and Jazz and Ironhide crowding into Red Alert's security office, demanding to know exactly why the security director was so uncomfortable around Perceptor. As far as they could see, there was nothing to be scared of.

"Fine. But don't say I didn't warn you." Red Alert muttered, comming Wheeljack and asking him to join them.

Once Wheeljack had arrived, Red Alert outlined the plan, explaining that Perceptor needed to believe that he or his projects were in danger before he would really let himself fight. Wheeljack was only too happy to help.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Over a week later and finally things were beginning to return to normal. Red Alert would still always be slightly uncomfortable around Perceptor, but now the scientist knew the reasoning behind it, he could understand why. Despite none of the other mechs on the Ark understanding.

In his laboratory, Perceptor checked his chronometer, suddenly realising it was high time he refuelled. Making his way out of the door, he was startled to find himself faced with Thundercracker. There was no one else around and no alarms were blaring, which meant that no one but him knew there was a Decepticon on the base.

"What do you want?" Reasoning was always his first line of defence. Even against a Decepticon.

"Your energon convertor." Thundercracker growled.

"Never!" Perceptor cried out, looking to see if there were any reinforcements on the way. The corridors were empty. Biting back an out of character curse as Thundercracker stepped towards him and his laboratory, Perceptor did the only thing he could.

He hit out at Thundercracker, determined to stop the seeker getting his hands on his invention. Thundercracker stepped back, seemingly oblivious to Perceptor's attempts to stop him.

"The energon convertor now Autobot." He growled.

"No." Perceptor pushed forward, striking out at Thundercracker, grabbing onto the seeker's arm and tearing away the gun there. Thundercracker barely flinched, pulling his arm back to punch Perceptor. Ducking, the scientist swept the seeker off his feet, barrelling into his legs and hitting any part of Thundercracker's chassis he could reach.

"Woah, okay, yer right Red. He certainly can fight." Jazz exclaimed, watching the fight on the security monitors. Sunstreaker, Ironhide, Jazz and Wheeljack were all standing in the security office.

"I told you. He just needs a reason to fight." Red Alert folded his arms over his chestplates smugly.

"Never thought he had it in him." Sunstreaker mused, moving a little closer to look at the way Perceptor was currently twisting Thundercracker's arm behind his wing. "You know, I'm going to try that move next time I see that Decepticon."

"I do hope he doesn't break it that badly." Wheeljack muttered, casting a critical optic over the damage Perceptor was doing to his Thundercracker clone.

"If you don't want him to rip it apart, you'd best get down there and stop him."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

After Red Alert's rather unorthodox demonstration, Perceptor found himself the center of attention, with everyone clamoring to find out how he could fight like that and who'd taught him. Red Alert was blessedly left alone; the Ark rumor mill having gone into overdrive and it was no now longer considered strange how he was nervous around Perceptor.

Eventually, the Ark and the Autobots settled back down into their normal routines. The Thundercracker clone guarded the entrance to Ark and made for much amusement when Laserbeak took a recording of it (and the damaged inflicted by Perceptor) back to the Nemesis.

* * *

Bunnyfarm Prompt:

Red Alert is one of the few who has witnessed Perceptor fighting. Because he has seen Perceptor fight, seen how vicious the 'gentle and harmless' scientist can be, he is understandably wary around him. This confuses everyone.


End file.
